Valo Siroutuu by Sontag Shogun & Lau Nau

A gentle and magnificent masterpiece, wrapped in the pale light from a Nordic country.

On the 25th March (digital on the 8th April) 2022, we will release the first collaboration album, 'Valo Siroutuu’, by the New York based neo-classical ambient music trio, Sontag Shogun, who express an individualistic beauty featuring a combination of lovely piano melodies, ambient, analog musical electronics such as a tape machines and a modular synthesizers, sound effects made from everyday items such as rice, chopsticks, and spoons, and edited vocals like clean air from Finnish female vocalist, Lau Nau, aka Laura Naukkarinen.

'Valo Siroutuu' which, in Finnish, means 'The Light Scatters', is a collaboration album that traverses borders. Firstly, the basics of the vocals were recorded by Lau Nau on the island of Kimitoön in Finlad, then members of Sontag Shogun over-dubbed their various instruments in Montreal, New York, and Los Angeles. Culminating in a silk-like beautiful stratum weaved by Lau Nau's melancholy voices in Finnish and a vocalist of Sontag Shogun, Jesse Perlstein’s, gentle voice in English. A spacious sound played by acoustic instruments such as a piano and guitar, and analog musical electronics such as a tape machine alongside modular synthesizers. The sound of the wind and sea waves, the chirp of small birds, which were field-recorded on the island of Kimitoön accent the music and give the final touch. Its fluent beautiful and spectacular sounds pull on the heartstrings of all fans of artists from Northern Europe such as Sigur Ros, Olafur Arnalds, and Múm.

In addition, the Japan-edition includes two bonus remix tracks by Japanese artists, Haco and FilFla. By adding those two rearranged songs featuring lovely vocals from Haco and Moskitoo, you can enjoy not only songs in Finnish and English in the main tracks in the album, but also the soft sounds in which the Japanese language has its own originality.

This is a wonderful masterpiece that not only goes beyond borders, but also musical genres such as ambient, electronica, neo-classical, folk, and experimental, which was made through the collaboration between two international artists who performed not only in North America and Europe but also in Asia, and were praised by famous music medias such as Pitchfork and The Wire.


The album 'Valo Siroutuu' will be released on number-limited 15cm square-sized box version designed by Anna Bernhardt, who is a graphic designer based in Berlin. It includes a 16 page booklet with handwritten comments in Finnish and English, analog-tasted photos with Lau Nau and Sontag Shogun, and lovely illustrations with a motif of nature, together with a copy on compact disc including two bonus tracks by Haco and FilFla, and a visual card.

We hope you feel the gentle and magnificent soundscape through your own eyes, ears, and heart with this booklet.

Ricco Label is a Tokyo-based neo-classical, post-rock, electronica, and ambient music label established as an individual label of Anoice and its solo/side projects.

riccolabel.com
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